Where do we see humanity?

Brutally gunned down in broad daylight as he fled for his life from government officials tasked with ripping him from his family.

Killed in a justifiable act of self defense as he tried to murder law officers in the enactment of their authorized duties.

How can we look at the same event and see it in such different ways? We hear the same account, even watch the same video, and our view is entirely different. It is colored by where we see humanity.

Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez dropped his two young children off at school the morning of Friday, September 12, 2025. He was just driving away from his younger child’s preschool when two ICE agents in an unmarked van pulled in front of his car, got out of the van, and approached his vehicle on both sides. A security video shows Villegas-Gonzalez trying to back away from them, then attempting to drive forward. ICE claims that the agent on the driver’s side of the car was dragged and that he shot Villegas-Gonzalez to save his own life.

However, there are several details that call into question this story for me. First, ICE’s initial account justified the killing by saying that Villegas-Gonzalez drove his car into the ICE agents – but he couldn’t drive into the agents because they were on the side of the car. Second, ICE claimed that Villegas-Gonzalez had a history of reckless driving, but reporting has disproved this accusation. How are we to believe what they say to explain the actions of their agents? But others see it differently. Why? Again, it comes back to where we see humanity.

Some look at Villegas-Gonzalez and see a man who crept into this country without authorization, and this colors everything else they learn about him. This interpretation drains the humanity from him. Others look at the same man and see someone who was trying to do the best he could to care for his young children, who was hardworking at his job and friendly with others in the community. This interpretation fills him with humanity.

And it is unavoidable for me that some people are inclined to view Villegas-Gonzalez as less than human because of his racial and ethnic background – his identity as a Latino man, a Mexican man. Because of those details, some people view him with suspicion.

And others benefit from this inclination. When working people in this country blame their problems on Latino immigrants rather than the corporate elites who deny us decent pay, health insurance, and job security, those elites win. When corporate elites can convince us that unwashed hordes are coming for our jobs, for our women, for our children, then they can continue to deprive us of the resources that we need. The corporate elites are the ones who benefit when we view one another in this way.

What can we do? It is up to us to keep our eyes open. It is up to us to speak to and about one another in ways that elevate one another’s humanity. It is up to us to center our own humanity in our interactions with other people. Because when we are fully living our own humanity, it becomes more difficult for us to degrade another’s. When we are acting from our common bonds with other humans – even our bonds with the non-human world – we act with more empathy and strength.

It is also up to us to speak out and act out when we see wealthy elites encouraging people to operate from scarcity, to compete with each other, to see what we can get for ourselves. We must call out those harmful beliefs and practices. We must stand beside each other. And we must do all we can to protect the humanity that exists in one another.